So I find myself in a hotel bar in Bahrain for reasons I won't go into (mainly because it's very dull!) My phone has a non-Bahrain SIM in it, (it's also not a UK SIM) so I am doing a "local" roam (it's a GCC SIM and Bahrain is another GCC member), so you could liken it to roaming in the EU on an EU SIM. The point I am trying to get to (you must excuse me - I have just had proper alcohol for the first time since January!) is a compareison of how cheap things are outside of the UK and the EU. I have just sent a text message to another mobile in the country my mobile is from, an it has cost me around 10 pence! (Would be less if President Brown wasn't screwing up the economy!) A 2 minute call, also to a mobile in the country my mobile is from cost me around 20 pence; so about 10 pence a minute. I should also mention that my phone is a pay-as-you-go plan. I'm lucky to get calls that cheaply even within the UK on my UK PAYG phone!
I only mention the GCC/EU comparison because one of the few good things the EU has managed is to lower the cost of EU roaming; but this shows it's still expensive compared to other parts of the world.
Anyway, I have just had a very tasty, properly cooked steak (of which more in a later post). All I need to do now is decide if I stay where I am, or pop across the courtyard to one of the hotel's other venues which has some Belarusian thing. Think it threatens ballet, but the women are far from your stereotypical Russian shot-putters (yes, I know Russia isn't Belarus, but it's close enough!)